Hummer Makes My Case For Crimson Pentas

Crimson pentas rank high on the 'favorite year-round perennials' list here.

For so many reasons.

They are bright and cheery and endure all kinds of ill-weather. Mine all came back from being frosted to the ground this winter. They bloom consistently all year long. Other than benefiting from deadheading occasionally (not required) pentas of all colors ask for very little from the gardener. Grown in partial shade or direct sunlight makes them suitable for just about every garden.

They are most notably a butterfly attractor!

Recently they were bumped up to an even higher position on my favorites list.

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I NEVER EVER have my camera handy when I see hummingbirds in my garden. Occasionally one will come whizzing past me while I work; sounding like an overgrown bumble bee to my ears. But it is no use trying to scramble for the camera. I'd rather just enjoy the sight of them in their lightning-fast motion.

Such was the case as Mr. Meems and I were eating brunch on the back porch the other day. Only it was Mr. Meems who spoke up saying, "I think I just saw a hummingbird on the roses." Immediately I doubted his identification as not moments prior I had watched the chickadees as they fluttered about the feeders in almost-hummbingbird-like motion. Surely he has seen the chickadees was my first thought.

Not so. He was absolutely right. Sure enough it was a hummer. (I should've known right!?).

We watched that busy hummer through the screening about 40' away for a good while. It moved from the knockout rose tree, to the crimson pentas, over to the mexican petunias and back again. Repeatedly. Hungry little hummer.

Finally I could stand it no more. We came up with a plan.

Mr. Meems scurried inside for my camera (while I kept my eye on the hummer). Then he stealthily opened the screened door for me to slip outside unnoticed in an attempt to maybe... just maybe get a photo. Oh, how I needed my monopod. I was excited and too far away ~~ my hand just couldn't get steady enough.

Still, I gave it my best effort and this is it. What a thrill to see them sipping nectar from any of my plants. It is almost always the coral honeysuckle or the fire bush that attracts them. They DO love the color RED.

One of these days I'm going to be ready and all the universe will align for that in-focus hummer photo.

One of these days...

Wrapping Up An Enthusiastic Spring

With eager fervor many projects were tackled in the garden this spring. Too many to detail but suffice to say there have been at least (I stopped counting after a while) 9 yards of dirt hauled and spread, 7 yards of pine mulch, several yards of horse manure, 15 bales of pine straw, 418 pounds of flagstone, hundreds of square feet of sod removed, and oodles of plants planted, divided, seeded, and tended.

So before we say goodbye to this most beloved season of possibilities and promise here's a look at some of the overflow of photos from the bulging spring files.

Somehow none of these recently-snapped photos have made it into a blog post before now. So here goes a random mish-mash of scenery from many parts of the garden...



































Hello Summer!
While our passion is not nearly as great for your arrival, we greet you with whole-hearted resolve to meet the added challenges you bring our way.

That sounds good anyway, doesn't it!

June's Flowers, Bees, Seeds, Bulbs and Okra

Let's have a look at a few of the flowering pretties that have happily opened up over the past couple of weeks. Starting with a couple of Florida natives...

A small flower born on the tips of wispy, tall stems, the Plains Coreopsis tinctoria aka Tickseed, started from seed in February are flowering along a border that gets only a couple of hours of afternoon sun. This year was my first effort with a few wildflowers just to give them a try in my not-so-sunny garden. Taking a guess as to where to plant it, I'm happy as a lark they are blooming.

The Stokesia laevis, stokes' aster blue danube, is one of the native plants purchased on my trip to the Dunellon native nursery back in March. This week its loaded buds opened up with their wonderfully compact but airy (considered blue) bursts of color. We will 'soonly' be making babies from this successful bloomer (read: divide and transplant after bloom).

Purchased in January (on sale) at my local nursery I didn't plant this pretty vine until March after moving it in and out of the garage during our unusually cold winter. Now clamoring up the arbor on the opposite side of confederate jasmine in the back yard it is blooming for the second go round.

Not a native but one of the top ten vines in Florida's Top Ten Garden Guide. I've been on the hunt for a Queen's wreath, Petrea volubilis since I first saw it blooming in my neighbor's yard a couple of years ago. She offered me a cutting but I wanted my own large start to this pretty wisteria-looking flowering vine. I've never seen it for sale at a big box store.

The almost-spent stalk of Salvia, 'Indigo Spires' made the post today because of its attractive visitor. Bees of all shapes and sizes just flock (do bees flock?) to these plants. You can see a better view of the overall setting in the top photo under my header above. These are common perennials here and easy to love as they quickly grow to the size of shrubs. I adore the spikes of purple as much as the flying critters do.

Okay. Please bear with this Florida gardener as I make over the simple pleasures of my 'first ever' seed-planted Cosmos bipinnatus from American Meadows.

A bit of a back story.

Since I've been blogging these sweet flowers were noticed in just about every garden north of Florida. I should add here that the general gist I perceived from those gardeners was an attitude of "oh, and the cosmos are blooming, too, but, hey! they are the weedy wildflowers that always bloom as summer wanes." Me? I'm thrilled they are blooming.

Cosmos were not a flower commonly seen around our area. (For the first time ever I did see them in 1 gal. pots in garden centers earlier in the spring.) I sowed my Cosmos wildflowers from seed. And wonder of wonders they are blooming.

I just love the airy foliage on the tall stalks and the variety of bloom colors produced. Readers will be seeing these frequently as I get used to having them around. So ignore me, humor me OR... just pretend to be as thrilled as I am.

Four (very large) bulbs of Amaryllis belladonna or naked ladies purchased from American Meadows were planted last spring. Absolutely nothing came from those bulbs. Until this year when the green strappy leaves appeared in very early spring. Only one of them is blooming however.

But for one bulb it is loaded with pale pink lily blooms planted among the Agapanthus, lily of the nile. For a very interesting story about the Belladonna lily supposedly being the only true Amaryllis you can click here to read it at the American Meadows site.

Three Firebush, Hamelia patens, shrubs were damaged badly with the freezes this January winter. Their unique tubular flowers have made a comeback this month after spending the spring putting on leaves again. I've yet to see a hummingbird which are reported to love them, but plenty of butterflies find their way to their pretty red and orange blooms.

If I had known how very pretty the flower of an okra plant was before now I would have planted them in more places. It reminds me a bit of a pansy. Such a deep magenta in its throat contrasting with a lovely shade of pale greenish-yellow it is a striking flower.

When I ran out of room in the veggie garden this spring I seed-sowed Clemson Spineless Okra from Baker Creek Heirloom Seed Co. over in the wildflower-native garden. Across from that planting bed among the coleus and xanadu is growing squash plants. It is so exciting to have veggies planted among the landscape as if it is ordinary. It used to be a practice seen in cottage gardens. It seems to be making a comeback. Comeback or not, I can tell you it is quite fun.

Painful Purging of the Squash Plants

As the labels I made at the time of seed-sowing are fading, so are all the vegetable plants in the garden.

Over the weekend we cooked up what was to be our last stir fry (with squash in it anyway) from the summer garden. The squash plants really struggled to survive this long. Over the course of their two month life they never produced prolific amounts of fruit due to the attack of worms and some sort of end rot. I think I can plant these again in the fall. Maybe they will do better with cooler weather.

It really was painful to yank the squash plants and add them to the compost pile. You can see the pitiful state of the vegetable garden today (above). Actually all the vegetable plants have been in rapid decline over the past couple of weeks. Our temps have been in the 90's, our humidity 100% and our nights are not cooling past the mid-70's.


Notice the leaning (pole) bean vine. I've mentioned in past posts my ignorance and poor planning for the heaviness and growth of the bean plant. In spite of me, the beans from this plant have been constant and plentiful.
Considering the ugliness and general decline of the leaves at this point coupled with the crowded conditions for growth I am daily surprised it is still producing healthy beans. I do have to lift up the heavy vine and really dig around to see the beans but they just keep coming.

With each smattering of colorful harvest I can only imagine it will be the last. Today my bounty really surprised me. I fully expected to pick much less when I made my way to the garden to water. Even the green beans keep hanging on. The plants are downright ugly but still have some blossoms and more beans growing.

It's a Good Time to be Growing Your Own Tomatoes

There are tomatoes still waiting to ripen. Tomatoes have been my greatest joy in the garden. They have been numerous and delicious. It has been so nice to know they are safe to eat with all the scare about tomatoes these past few weeks.

One problem, in addition to the declining plants and the bombardment of bugs, has been that recently some 'thing' is randomly plucking even the green tomatoes off the vine and poking out large sections. Whether it is to eat them or not I can't tell. By the time I find them the half-gorged tomatoes are laying on the ground with no culprit to be seen.

Overall, my first veggie garden has been a thrilling experience. Family and friends are asking if I will do it again. My answer is that I will have to do it again to see if I can do it better next time. I've learned a few things I'd like to put to use and besides that now that I've gotten a 'taste' of picking fresh from the garden to the table I don't think I'd want to be without a vegetable garden again.

Not A Bloom in Sight Today

Shirl at Shirl's Gardenwatch sent out an invitation for garden bloggers to join Emma over at A Nice Green Leaf for a look at our gardens from the green side of things.


So often we are completely caught up in our colorful flowering blooms, we almost forget about the foliage that carries them.

In contemplating the photos I would capture for this post, I found myself looking at my garden from a completely different perspective... paying attention to the leaves and stalks and the simple way some of the greenery makes its own very distinct statement without a single bloom blessing its limbs.

Above is a view of a portion of the back garden with the first rays of daylight beginning to dapple the under-plantings. You can see how Hoe & Shovel makes use of layers and layers of foundational foliage with annuals and mostly perennials added for color and dimension.

Because we garden all year long here it is essential we make use of many shades of green and many colors of foliage in order to perk up the senses with variety. Afterall, we not only have to tend our garden through every season, we have to be happy with what we've designed through every season.

I hope you enjoy this parade of greenery. A simple identity will be shared with each photo of a smattering of the plant life that calls Hoe & Shovel home.

Starting with this delicately variegated foliage that came with a tag stating "exotic plant"... I do not know the name of it. It was transplanted outdoors into a container combination when its indoor life was waning. It appears to have flourished much better the last year living outdoors.

No Question I'm Partial to Chartreuse

Coleus... in the ground with several variety of deeper colors surrounding the lime green. Again, no specific name known for this one.

Creeping Ginny ... trailing over the side of a colbolt blue glazed combination planter.

Lemon Lime Dracaena... I'm so infatuated with the contrast of this easy to use lovely. This one in a combination container but there are many more in strategic settings planted in the ground around Hoe & Shovel.

Potato Vine ... combined in a very large planting with Purple Queen for a neighbor... here the PQ has trailed over its bounds to poke up through the potato vine that spills over a man-made two foot wall. Oops... I see a couple of zinnias making their way through the vine too... shhhh... don't tell anyone a bloom snuck in.

Now For Some Darker Values-
This Might Be Stretching the Call for Green a Tad... Please Forgive.

Begonia (again, not sure of the name)... a pass along from one of my neighbors. It peaks out between a large grouping of spathophyllum and another of azalea along the front walkway.

Angel wing begonia... The deep green and polka-dotted topside with deep red underside and shiny waxy leaf is an eye catcher which I use both in some combination containers and in the ground. It is very easily propogated with cuttings which is right up my alley.

Greens With Interesting Variations

Variegated Shell Ginger... a staple in the front garden as well as the back garden. The striped green and almost yellow patterned, extra-large leaves serve to break up the light in the partial shade beds.

Holly Fern... Several years ago six of these shade lovers were placed around the base of an oak tree. Since then there have been a few dozen divided out from those originals to add to growing beds as well as to combination containers.

English Ivy... with the lighter green of the new growth contrasting the darker green of the pruned leaves this trailing ivy complements numerous containers here. It is also used as a lush ground cover in a couple of areas. The variegated variety is also commonly seen around my garden.

Clerodendrum pagoda flower... although this plant is in bloom right now, the ginormous heart shaped leaves are so intriguing with their well veined surface adding tropical beauty to the front garden... I just had to share a display of it for this publishing.

Truer Greens.. If There Is Such a Thing

Giant Liriope... This evergreen is an essential element at Hoe & Shovel gracing almost every planting bed either in the ground or in a container. Down here they grow to 3 and 4 feet tall and as wide as 2-3 feet under the mighty oak trees.

Jatropha Buddha Belly... also in bloom right now but just have a look at the marvelous shape of this extremely large green leaf!

Herbs Too

Sage... this might be one of my most favorite green leaves in all the garden. The silvery gray bumps and veins giving the illusion of velvety softness.

Sweet Basil: Even in our ridiculous heat of late, this potted herb is still producing extra large tender green leaves for our cooking and salad making pleasure.

Tropical Delights

Split leaf philodendron... each mammoth leaf unfurling to create the back drop of the layers in the back garden. Individual sizes averaging 2-3 long and 2-3 feet wide. Another staple here for their ease of care and their abundance of greenery.

Xanadu... a relative of the aforementioned philodendron but on the miniature side comparatively. This easily divided evergreen fills in the broad spaces of numerous planting beds and multiplies itself once established. For a twist I like to pop them in containers, too.


Saw Palmetto... Nature planted these Florida beauties and I design around them with glee. They speak of all things Florida and woodsy and natural... I absolutely adore their fan of green poking up beneath every stand of live oaks here ... I am confident God placed them here just for me.

Spathiphyllum floribundum... you have to appreciate this shade loving, elongated, shiny leaved houseplant that thrives in the heat and humidity of our climate.

This was a fun project giving me pause to take in the garden with new eyes. Thanks to Shirl and to Emma for getting us involved.